Metaphor? A movement of resonance perhaps, a
rhyming not of sounds or words, but ot meaning.
Do you not know this light and quick movement
of energy as two separate thoughts touch wings
and fly off into the distance together?

If Religion and Metaphysics are to mean anything,
they should help us age not merely as an ever-larger
and more burdensome collection of broken parts, but
rather with the slowly increasing wisdom of a tree
which holds the complexity of the centuries
within ever-clearer, simpler and more beautiful
structures.

In Art as well as Nature, there is a necessary complemen-
tarity between the conservative tradition which embodies
and safeguards the knowledge of the past and the
revolutionary insight which reveals the new.

Perhaps leaves fall simply to carry away all
that we thought we needed to say. And perhaps
trees purify themselves each year, knowing that
there is no thought so large that it cannot be
written on the smooth, plain surface of but
a single leaf.

In both music and poetry, what is important is not
so much what we think of as style or aesthetics, but
rather the quality of energy which manifests in a piece
as we bring it to life in performance....

...Tragically, children who are for whatever reason denied
this primary relationship with things natural can only with
great difficulty re-create pictures or sounds in this way. Theirs
has become in part a 2nd-hand world of ghost images projected
on the proverbial walls of a high-tech cave.

Balance in Art follows the natural movements of water
and weather. Fast mountain streams give way to the slow
curves of lowland rivers and the broad expanse of the sea;
Dark cold rains are followed by bright skies and the warming
sun. Balance is never either / or, but rather the course
which runs in between. ...

Retronyms? With every step we take away from the wisdom
of Nature's way, the more difficult it becomes to clearly see what
we have lost or left behind. Acoustic guitar, organic tomato, and—
as a possible future, n a t u r a l human being...

20 miles out, 20 miles back.
Got a flat; That's a fact.
Hard as nails, Life's like that.
Gotta act—now; That's a fact!
20 miles out, 20 miles back.
Got a flat; That's a fact.
Excuses, excuses—
Why can't I live like that?

The Chainsaw said to the Jackhammer, "Who's
making all the noise around here?The Electric Bass
or the Drummer? //
Tolerance for noise? They say, a frog in a pot
of water, if up turn up the juice very gradually,
will let itself be boiled.

In Poetry and Photography, the title or frame
creates a background shadow of knowledge
of things implied, but left unsaid or unseen; //
Out of this background emerge dramatically
contrasted centers of light and focus.

Whether or not the seeds of new meaning set root and flourish
depends not so much on any form of promotion or publicity, but
rather on their strength of resonance with our spiritual need
for clarity and truth.

A two-part meditation on both the bright and
the dark sides of computers and computer networks—to transcend arbitrary borders or limitations of any kind,
thereby bringing people and meaning together in new,
unexpected and creative ways;

—to create vast invisible networks for evermore centralized
runaway economies, which are thereby protected from the
destructive human and environmental consequences of their
own internal contradictions; ...

Symbols refer to meaning
like currency to value:—
only in a highly abstract
and intellectual way. //
The danger with such abstraction
is that it is want to wander off
on its own, losing its basis in actual fact.

On the difference between metaphorical and literal mindFor the metaphorical mind, what others perceive
as isolated facts are but unrealised opportunities in
the dance of relationship.
For the literal mind, the dance has stopped; with
a laser-like beam, it concentrates on the outward
features of things:—shards, numbers, fragments of flux. ...

On the difference between limit and controlControl imposes order from without by projecting the predetermined
thought, conditioned by the past, of what should happen. The need to
control invariably increases as the disorderly, unexpected, side-effects of past
efforts accumulate, which results in ever-greater unnecessary difficulties
or complicatedness; ...

All passengers in a car running on a full tank
of fundamentalist religion, we're tied up with
freedom and democracy in back. Money's
in the driver's seat, with nation states spinning
with a vengeance, one against the other, for
wheels. Hey, somebody just yelled, "Get out
at the next right!"

The economy of Art? You know that your composition has
achieved a certain integrity not just when there is nothing left
to take away, but also when changing but a single part means
that you must of necessity go back and retune the whole.

There are inventions which impose structure on the mind,
forcing us to think as we might walk with one foot tied behind
the back, in unnatural ways; And there are inventions which arealready implicit in the workings of the mind at its best, letting
us create with all the ease of freely flowing water. The humblehyperlink, ....

The question of which musical body we consider central
or primary—that of the large orchestra or individual soloist—
is related to the similar question in literature of which form
is seen as most important, the full-length novel or the short
poem...

The point at the center of a cross,
where wet and cold meets warm and dry,
and flowing waters and cultures divide. //
North side and South side,
how could I ever choose? Swaying
back and forth, I am the bell
that rings out on all sides.

When we are young and naturally wish to wander the ways
of the world, it's good to think ahead, not just about what's
further down the road, but to find a harmony—a fit, between
the center of one's being, and the center—the place—one
comes to call home.

Violence is like a pool of poison water threatening
the river of life. Gazing out over the whole, one sees
that answering violence with violence never stops
the corruption of the water, but rather becomes
a part of the pollution itself; ...

On Sayings in Prose and other Metaphysical Miniatures
The problem is to bring thought into its proper relationship
with the natural world by surrounding it with an abundance
of space and quietude.—the song of the woodthrush is
always followed by silence. Who is to say which is more
important, the song or the quiet interval before and afte? ...

With enough time, simplicity always unfolds—without limit—
into natural complexity. Sustain a single vowel sound for the duration
of an entire breath, and you will become aware of the rich weave of its
overtones; Walk the smooth white surfaces of high mountain spring snow,
and you will discover an infinity of living textures beyond all compare.

In the present era, we abandon each other at the
drop of a hat because, both individually and collectively,
we deserted long ago the very earth upon which we stand.
Without a soil made rich by generations of care, even the
most heartfelt feelings can find no place to root and
call home.

In Politics, the most radical idea is simplicity;
In Art, the most difficult idea is simplicity;
In Science, the most necessary idea is simplicity;
In Religion, the most mysterious, arduous,
complex idea, is simplicity.

No Edge Lines and the Runaway EconomyA free economy is a strictly limited one. Even the
busiest of thoroughfares still retains a thin white line,
protecting the rights of those of us who prefer to:—
walk.

Reading the Bible or the Gita or Koran
only gives you the idea of religion;
recycling old tires back into fertile
earth gives you the actual fact. //
Image:—the old, outmoded beliefs of
the past make way for the spiritual
imperatives of the new.

On the difference between living Intelligence
and mechanical IntellectThe movements of intelligence in Nature resonate
together like the circular waves of water droplets
merging on the surface of quiet water. ...

Nature knows no conflict, no contradiction, no waste.
The religious or spiritual life begins therefore not
with any dogma or belief, but rather with the deeply
held intention to live a life without conflict, contradiction,
or waste.

Imagine Nature reduced to place filled with straight, dry,
brittle stems covered from root to crown with thorns. That
is what we ourselves become when we lose the complemen-
tarity of masculine and feminine principles.

Without a shared sense of natural limit with regard
to the genders, there is a great danger that mere competition
between the sexes may take the place of the complemen-
tarity of masculine and feminine principles....

Inside the Square, discussion is neat and orderly.
One could say, clean almost. That is because Truth
and a whole angry horde of assumption-threatening
details are kept at bay, far beyond the walls
of the Square. ...

Resurrection of the 'Ugly American': utterly incapable of seeing the world from another's
point of view, whether the other be a foreigner, a woman,
a person of color, or simply a fellow member of Earth's
creatura (a tree, a river, a mountain);...

If you want to be a poet, call yourself a farmer;
If you want to be a farmer, call yourself a religious
man or woman; If you want to be a person of religion,
call yourself a teacher. The first student is always
yourself.

Mountain Path
As two learn to walk together as one,
one of their most prinmal of fears
is that they might somehow, by some
accident, be separated, perhaps irreversibly.
That is why Love seeks to protect every
step Freedom makes.

Art? Beauty? Perhaps, that which is fitting in
every way, in all directions at once.Music? On the way to your next performance, if you
wish to know what—beyond the walls of the concert hall—
the Earth suffers every day because of our indifference,
let your route follow the side of a busy, noisy road...

Listening is never 2nd-hand. Creative tradition never repeats.
The works of the past can only be discovered afresh by ears
made strong by the challenge, and attuned to the wonder, of
the new and unknown.

There are those artisits who transform the string
of precious stones which is melody into mere black
marks on a page;
And there are those who transform the black marks
on a page into the string of precious stones.
—Music is the difference.

Time folds into Space like a thread wound into a skein;
Ah --the one at of time folds into andbecomes the all at once,
and all differences become co-present. Listen to the separate notes
of a Melody wind round themselves to become Harmony as a piano's
sustaining pedal is depressed. That's the sound of Time
becoming a quality of Space!

In the Arts, we may easily be misled by a work's surface
appearance, and therefore only belatedly awaken to its
deeper metaphysical or spiritual source. It's like the water
of any large city: at first it may seem perfectly clear, re-
freshing. But after a while we may come to sense the
drop of poison added to keep us from getting sick.

Do you need a Priest to stand between you and
the voice of gods?:—Go to the mountains and find out.
Do you need a Banker to stand between you and
infinite wealth?:—Go to the mountains and find out.
Do you need a Politician to stand between you and
your freedom?:—Go, go to the mountains and find out.

(2) Complicatedness is difficulty which serves no purpose and
is therefore without reason or meaning; it is difficulty which is
unnecessary. Remarkably, in this sense, complicatedness
in Nature does not exist.

In Science, we may put frames potentially in the wrong
place, and therefore ask the wrong questions; In Art, we
may create potentially inappropriate or 'false' frames, that is,
ones which tacitly tell us that there is something important
inside while in actuality this is not the case...

Reading—hours at a time narrows the mind to the stuffy confines
of a room without windows; Listening—in contrast, whether in or
out-of-doors, is freer, more alive; Listening allows the eyes to
roam freely about, no longer straining in a small, constricted field.
Listening allows for great space. And a polyphony of simultaneous,
complementary movements. ...

Nature knows no conflict, no contradiction,
no waste. It is possible to say, therefore, that
the religious life begins not with any dogma
or belief, but rather with the deeply held intention
to live a life without conflict, contradiction,
or waste.

... Poetry, when we come to see its essence as the energy of insight
revealed in the imagery of the singing and speaking voice, stands
at the very center of this endeavor like a mountain which is both
supremely physical in its presence, but also spiritual, ...

I want to live my life like a bell, not large,
but small, resonant, whole—a bell
that rings out into the open air
from all it sides; //
I want live like a frog, hungry for love,
singing the moment it digs out of the ...

NEWZEROshown at the left
(prints 81/2 x 11" (A4)) Also available as .pdf
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Zero,
such a shy performer,
at first hiding behind the no's "n",
you step out onto the clear, open page;

. . . Before I
know it, forgetting that poems
are something like paths we make in walking,
I'll mistake again the dark
little closet where I've hidden
all the unpaid bills of the past
for the door which leads
outside.